“Gilda?” Dragon asked Lyra. “What are you talking about, girl?”

At his side, Valerian became still.

Lyra looked first at Dragon, then her eyes moved over Valerian, widening in terror. “Don’t let him near me!” she screamed. “He’s with her.”

In the meantime, Lorina and Mirna had stopped crying and sat frozen on the chaise lounge.

Dragon’s senses reeled. He turned to face his lieutenant and met his stony expression. “Valerian?”

Before his friend could say anything, Gage entered the chamber, dragging another man by the arm.

“Cranes,” Gabriel said, motioning for Gage to bring the man closer.

“My Lord—” Cranes shook from head to toe, refusing to make eye contact.

“What’s going on in here?” Gabriel asked, gesturing at the chamber. “I’ve never read any report about the basement’s maintenance.”

Lyra stopped whimpering and crying and joined the preternatural stillness that had immobilized Lorina and Mirna. The three of them turned their attention to the newcomer.

The entire room fell silent, everybody waiting on the house manager’s answer.

“I—” The man fell to his knees, raising his united hands over his head. With his eyes downcast, he said, “I didn’t know they were going to use it for—” He started again, shaking violently. “I was told—” He choked on his last word that was drowned by loud sobs.

“Who’s they?” Dragon asked.

“The prin—” A wet gurgle escaped his mouth as he stared once at Valerian before falling face down to the floor. An arrow jutted from between his shoulder blades.

Gabriel and Valerian dashed in pursuit of the archer. The four guards collapsed at once, their bodies riddled by a rain of arrows. The girls ran in the opposite direction toward the chamber’s less illuminated corner. Dragon and Valentine chased after them. The whoosh of flying arrows split the air. One after the other, the three lady’s maids fell.

Dragon and Valentine split, each rushing toward a column.

“Can you see him?” Valentine mouthed.

Dragon shook his head as another arrow flew past him. The shaft embedded itself into the wooden table by his side, and it oozed a dark substance.

Gabriel ran back into the chamber. A barb whistled loudly.

Dragon yelled at Gabriel, “Watch out!”

The vampire skirted the incoming arrow at the last moment, but a second and a third shaft whizzed by, coming from different corners of the chamber. One of the poisoned barbs hit Dragon. Pain exploded in his shoulder, and numbness overtook him a moment later. He was hit again. His knee felt like melting rubber.

Someone yelled his name. Hands grabbed him. The rest of the room slowly vanished. People entered his line of sight as he floated in and out of consciousness. Dragon fought to escape the darkness surrounding him, but it felt like swimming through a sea of gelatin. Finally, his dragon took the reins, and he gratefully sunk into oblivion.

* * *

Dragon woke up in stages.

For the longest time, he tried to come to, but his body didn’t want to cooperate, his eyelids too heavy and his limbs heavier still. Voices roused him before he sunk deeper into a dreamless slumber. Fog surrounded him as Dragon dug his way back to reality.

Finally, groggy and famished, he croaked, “Food,” smelling the tantalizing scent of roasted meat.

“Told you a good lamouris roast would do the trick.” Valentine’s voice came from nearby. “Imported from Lupine. You are welcome.”

Opening one eye, Dragon let out a sigh. He was lying on the cool floor of a large chamber that looked familiar. Usually, he didn’t suffer from disorientation this strong for more than a second or two, but now, he had a hard time getting rid of the healing’s side effects.

“How long?” he croaked.

Gabriel sat on a chair in front of him. “You were out for nine days.”

“Nine days,” Dragon repeated, trying to figure out what the date was, but his brain didn’t provide him the answer. Fear grabbed him. “Am I too late?” He hoisted his upper body on his bent elbows. “The Academy—”

“It’s tomorrow,” Valentine answered, perched on the armchair of a sofa. “I was willing to poke you with a skewer if you hadn’t woken by tonight.”

“Thank you.” Dizziness overcame Dragon, making him shut his eyes.

“Anything for you, my friend,” Valentine said.

“Do you remember what happened?” Gabriel asked.

Dragon nodded. “We were attacked.” He looked around. “Here.” Little by little, his memories were coming back. “The poison on that arrow was strong.”

“You were hit seven times. It’s only thanks to Gabriel who sucked as much poison as he could from your wounds that you are awake now. With that amount of toxins in your system, your dragon couldn’t have healed you in less than a month,” Valentine said. “It was pure madness how it all went down.”

Like a flood, the dam of Dragon’s recollections broke free, filling him with the missing images and sounds. The lady’s maids’ words came back to him, as did the house manager’s unfinished statement. “What happened to the girls and Crane?”

Valentine answered, “The girls didn’t make it. Crane was transported to Celestia City and is still in critical condition.”

“Where is Valerian?” Dragon asked.

“I’m here,” Valerian answered.

Following the sound of his friend’s voice, Dragon turned his head to the side and saw him. Valerian stood several steps behind Valentine, his face a stonier mask than usual.

“You don’t seem happy to see me,” Dragon said to Valerian.

“I’m glad you made it.” His lieutenant tilted his head.

Unspoken words resonated in the air, prickling Dragon’s senses. “Did you talk to Gilda?” He directed his question toward Valentine and Gabriel.

“Gilda has nothing to do with all of this.” Valerian’s words were clipped and a vein pulsed on his jaw.

“We talked to the princess,” Valentine answered. “She denied everything.”

“And the people who accused her are either dead or can’t speak.” Gabriel stretched his neck, slowly lowering his head to each shoulder. “We’ve relocated Gilda inside the manor, in one of the internal wings with working doors and solid walls.”

“They are treating her like a criminal.” Valerian’s chest rose and fell as his hand rested on the pommel of his katana.

“We’re making sure she is safe,” Gabriel said. “Several of my guards watch over her, and the place is checked three times a day for listening devices. In fact, this basement and Gilda’s quarters are the only places where we know we can talk freely.”

“They refuse to let me see her,” Valerian insisted.

Gabriel turned to Dragon. “We were waiting for you to wake before making a decision. We have much to talk about.” He grabbed the pile of clothes sitting on the low table beside his chair and brought them to Dragon. “Maybe you could eat as we bring you up to speed.”

“Thank you.” With slow gestures, Dragon pulled a tunic down over his head, then sat cross-legged and ate the food that Valentine offered him.

“As you can see from the noticeable lack of servants—” Gabriel made a sweeping gesture encompassing the entirety of the cavernous chamber. “We now officially treat everyone as a suspect because the attackers had help from the inside.”

Dragon had surmised as much. Vampires liked to be pampered, and House Martelli’s retinue numbered in the hundreds. Finding a disloyal employee among that crowd would be difficult if not impossible.

“We are spreading false intel throughout the house to see where the leak is,” Gabriel said. “I still can’t believe that someone from my household has been plotting against me for months.”

“It’s not just your people,” Dragon started. “If I hadn’t come—”

Valentine shook his head. “It would’ve happened anyway.”

“He’s right.” Gabriel gave Dragon a sad smile. “We just made it convenient for the terrorists by convening all in the same place.”

“Although with our move, we might have forced their hand.” Valentine cut a chunk from the big roast and refilled Dragon’s empty plate. “They probably had to act earlier than planned.”

“That’s probably the reason they failed twice already to kill us. Both the fire and the archers’ attack weren’t carried out by professionals. The arrows that hit you—” Gabriel pointed his chin at Dragon “—weren’t assassin’s grade. The manufacture was similar, but not quite the same. We had an alchemist analyze the poison on the shafts. He determined it was made locally, with ingredients that can be easily found on Celestia.” He scoffed. “Hell, half of the herbs used grow in my internal garden.”

“It could all turn out in our favor.” The tiniest flicker of hope ignited in Dragon’s chest. “They didn’t have time to organize properly and are acting impulsively.”

“And they’ve been trying to stop you from talking to the Academy ever since you received the summons,” Valentine said.

“I wonder why.” Dragon cleaned the plate and drank from the goblet Gabriel passed him.

“Someone doesn’t want you to reach out to the Academy,” Valentine commented.

“That’s an understatement if there ever was one.” Dragon unfurled from his position and stood. The room spun around him for a moment, but he soon felt whole again. “Time to talk to Gilda,” he said, nodding for Valerian to follow him.